When She Grows Up...

Everyday Abby learns something new and everyday she makes me laugh.  One of the things that I love to do is just watch her play.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm getting a sneak peak into her future and seeing the start of a life long passion.

For example, she LOVES shoes.  She insists on wearing new shoes out of the store.  Her love of shoes recently went a step further when I saw her doing this:

I asked her what she was doing and she told me that those were her shoes!  There she goes designing her own shoes already!  Perhaps she'll be a fashion designer!

Then theres her love of singing and dancing.  I mean take a look at this face... is she a future rock star or what?

Then theres her natural artistic ability.  The concentration.  The use of colors.  Totally a budding artist!

Or maybe tattoo artist?

I can't forget the drama.  She literally stood in front of oven one day, staring at her reflection and practicing her sad face.  She has even learned to cry on demand!  Maybe she'll be an actress or a model?

The possibilities are endless!

It's Hard to Believe 2 Years Have Gone By

Here we are at the 2 year mark.  Two years since my Mom has been here.  It's hard to believe.  There are so many times I still want to call her.  Sometimes whether I told her something or whether she was somewhere is fuzzy... I can picture her talking to me about something but then realize it would be impossible.  She was just always there, always available to chat so sometimes my mind plays tricks on me.

It's crazy to think of all the things that she wasn't here for.  The little things. Abby's first words and steps.  The funny things she does.  The gossip from family get togethers.  Then there's the big things.  A new baby.  A new home.  Family tensions.

She's been missed, by so many.  The longer she's gone, the more I learn, the more I admire her.  The pain is still just as raw but it surfaces a little less now.  I'm sure it will always be there.  I try not to focus on the sadness because I know I need to move forward.

I read this the other day in Mitch Albom's book "Have a Little Faith" and I thought I would share.  It follows a story as told by Rabbi Albert Lewis during one of his sermons.

"My friends, if we tend to the things that are important in life, if we are right with those we love and behave in line with our faith, our lives will not be cursed with the aching throb of unfulfilled business.  Our words will always be sincere, our embraces will be tight.  We will never wallow in the agony of 'I could have, I should have.' We can sleep in a storm.  And when it's time, our good byes will be complete."

There is no greater lesson we can learn and losing my Mom so young has taught me this lesson well.  Do what's right, treat people right and keep your regrets to a minimum.  Make sure the ones you love know it and try hard to bite your tongue when you're angry.  When I think back to how I treated my Mom, I think I was pretty good to her.  However, there are some things that I wish I wouldn't have said or done.  I was young, stressed, tired.... so many excuses.  But those moments are ones I can't get back.  I try to remind myself daily to not make the same mistake but it's sometimes hard.  All a person can do is try.

Mom, I miss you every day and I am forever grateful that our last words to one another were "I love you."  

Celebrating with a BBQ, Fireworks, and Reptiles?!?

The 4th of July always meant big family parties when I was a kid.  There would be family, food, and laughs and a strong sense of patriotism.  Over the years the party has gotten smaller as family has moved away, including myself.  With Dan's schedule as crazy as it is (he's working midnights right now) and family 4 hours away or more, we typically celebrate some holidays much smaller than my childhood memories.  Small is not always a bad thing because we're flexible enough to pick and choose what we want to do and yesterday proved to be a crazy sort of day filled with surprises.

My sister and I took Abby to a bouncy house first thing in the morning.  She had an absolute blast!  She's one of the toughest kids I've ever met and held her own with the older kids.  I held my breathe half the time and after 45 minutes my nerves were just shot!  We left, she cried hysterically, and went for lunch where they gave her all the necessary accessories to become a pirate!  Awesome!

After a much needed nap (not for me unfortunately), we sang some patriotic songs.  I discovered 2 things:  one, I have forgotten most of what I learned as a child and two, there is a serious shortage of upbeat patriotic songs.

When I finally woke Dan up Dan finally woke up, we went outside to BBQ and have some fun in the sprinkler before getting ready for fireworks.

This is where it gets a little crazy.  We drove all the way to the fireworks and paid $5 to park our car.  We walked from our car to the actual fireworks location which took about 40 minutes since Abby refuses to use a stroller (and hasn't for at least 6 months now).  At which point, Dan looks at me and says there is no way we're getting back to the car and getting home in time for him to be a work.  So, after a million "What do you want to do?  I don't know... What do you want to do?", we walked back to the car and made our way out of the busy lot to find a location further away but less crowded to see fireworks.


The only way to get Abby to go faster than the first walk was to promise her ice cream so we stopped at McDonald's on our way.  As we walk out of our car we see this:

and this:

Apparently the owner of these animals rescues them and does kids parties.  I'm still confused as to why he was outside McD's but it was interesting to say the least.  Abby, as always, was fearless and enjoyed eating her ice cream cone surrounded by Boa Constrictors!

We then left McD's and could not decide where the best place to park was.  We also couldn't figure out where to look.  We also couldn't figure out what time it would actually start.  Finally, we decided to drive over the bridge and back.  As luck would have it, traffic on the bridge closed on our way back as soon as the fireworks started so we got to see the show from what I think was the best spot!  Abby's face was priceless!

I hope you and your family had an fun filled holiday!  

STILL HERE!!

Hi Everyone!!

Well, it's been way too long since the last time I posted.  I have a million excuses.  We've been busy and I've been tired... and hormonal.  My emotions with this pregnancy are all over the place and there are some days that I feel down right depressed.  If I'm not happy than I don't write because who wants to listen to me be a downer?  I don't even like myself when I'm like that!

So, anyways... we got some good news today!  Much to my surprise, we're having another girl!!  I'm so excited but totally shocked!  Everything is so different with this pregnancy that I was convinced I was having a boy.  After 3 checks from the ultrasound tech today we are 100% certain that my intuition was wrong!

The cutest thing ever had to be when we gave Abby the picture of her baby sister.  She smiled ear to ear.  Held it all the way to the store and while we were shopping.  She showed it off to woman at the register. Proud as can be!  I hope she stays that happy to be a big sister once November gets here!

So, for now, I leave you with a picture of Baby Girl #2.  I hope to not be gone for so long this time because I miss blogging a lot.  Not blogging has caused me to become addicted to entirely too many tv shows.. NCIS is my newest fave and I even found myself watching a NY Ink marathon the other day!  Hope everything is going good in your neck of the woods!

First, I really need to say a big Thank You to all of our troops!  Let's pray that today marks a turning point for our world to return to peace again so that all of our troops can start coming home!

So, I really didn't intend to take such a long blogging break.  I thought that confronting my block would help but life has been a bit hectic and this little blog of mine has been terribly neglected.  Honestly, I have only been spending about a fraction of the time I normally do online.  The strangest thing is that I still don't feel like I have gotten any thing extra accomplished with my day.  Go figure!

The first exciting thing to happen these past few weeks was that we went out and finally bought a new car!  I can not tell you how happy I am to finally have some wheels on the days that Dan works.  I am not too happy about the payment but I guess that's just the way it works.  I am also not too happy that gas prices are so incredibly ridiculous which makes road trips still hard to plan.  If only I could just win the lottery!!

We also had a very special birthday to celebrate!  Abby's 2nd birthday was filled with lots of family and fun.  The party was on Sunday but half the party showed up the day before so it was a jam packed weekend!  All the cleaning, planning and cooking was definitely worth it because Abby had a blast!

Then we took her back to Clark's Farm on her actually birthday so she could run around and pet some of the animals.  She loved it!!  I tried to recreate some of the photos we took the year before but she isn't all that cooperative in front of the camera.  She either doesn't look at me or she runs up to me yelling "Cheese!" which makes my picture look like this:

We also got a new room mate!  My sister decided she wanted to live closer so she's going to be staying with us for a while.  I have been so far away from family for the past few years so I couldn't be happier having her here!  Abby is absolutely loving all of the extra attention too.

We were also lucky enough to have some beautiful weather so we've been trying to get outside to enjoy it.  We did some Easter egg hunting and we even walked to our local beach!  Abby can't wait to jump in the water!

And the biggest news!  The news that I have been dying to share but wanted to tell my Grandmother in person before I told any of my bloggy buddies is......

Yup... baby #2 is on it's way!  The expected due date is November 19th and I am super excited!  This wasn't exactly a planned thing but it's definitely a happy surprise.  This is probably the biggest reason that I haven't been blogging lately.  This baby has totally wiped me out.  I was nauseous day and night and just looking at the computer screen was making my world spin.  Thankfully, I think I'm slowly getting past that and I'm hoping it's smooth sailing from now until November.

So, there you have it.  We've been celebrating some pretty big things... birthdays, Easter, pregnancy... oh my!  We've also had lots of visitors and my sister moved in.  All that on top of morning sickness!  But, the good news is that I'm back and I can't wait to catch up with all of you!

I Ain't Got Nuffin'

I have 3 posts in draft right now.  I also just deleted a 3 paragraph post about 10 seconds ago.

I am blocked.  There is nothing that I feel really compelled to write about except for one thing.  The problem is that it's the one thing that I can't share... right now.

I think we are all careful what we write sometimes, good or bad.  It's not an easy thing though because sometimes the one the thing you can't right about is the biggest thing going on.

Like I said, I keep trying to write something but it feels fake.  It feels forced.  So, I just keep going back to the drawing board.

I promise I'll be back.  I promise I'll fill you in and won't be so vague.  I promise that sometime soon I'll have something to write that I'm allowed to write about.  Soon.....

But for now I'll leave you with a funny website that you'll hopefully find as hilarious as I did!  http://damnyouautocorrect.com/

Midnight Snack?

There were times in college that I'd be studying for a big test and I would fall asleep right there on my books.  I would always hope that I absorbed some knowledge through osmosis but my test results would disprove this theory.

Abby, on the other hand, may be on to something.  She loves books and even asks for a book when she goes to bed.  How cute, right?

Well, I recently discovered that she has a very nontraditional way of getting her knowledge as well.

Does ingesting a book make you really smart?